“Choice Screen”: Qwant welcomes this first step forward for smartphone users

Qwant takes note of the positive progress made by Google in the search engine choice screen displayed to buyers of an Android phone in Europe, three years after it was sentenced to pay a €4.34 billion fine for abuse of dominant position. Although still imperfect, this new “Choice Screen” deployed from September 1 puts an end to the auction system by which Qwant and other competitors had to pay Google so that their users have the right to choose them as a search engine when they install their Android phone. A wider choice of alternatives will now be offered, with a maximum of 12 choices displayed, the first 5 of which will be the most popular engines in each country, according to statistics published by StatCounter. Currently, Qwant is one of the top five in France.

Qwant believes that this revised version of the Choice Screen better satisfies the conclusions that Google was to draw from its conviction in July 2018.

Qwant wishes to welcome in this regard the important action of the European Commission and in particular of the cabinet of Ms. Margrethe Vestager, who was able to go beyond the formal framework of her interventions to promote a dialogue between Google and those of its competitors (including Qwant) who requested a tripartite meeting. We believe that in the regulatory ambitions of the digital giants in Europe, this conciliation procedure has demonstrated real effectiveness.

This revised “Choice Screen” does not yet solve all the difficulties for consumers. In particular, Qwant asks that consumers have the right to change their mind and thus be able to reopen the Choice Screen at any time from the settings of their Android phone, to easily change the default search engine on their device.

For all users in Europe, it should be easy, from any browser and operating system, to change the search engine they want to use.